BREAST cancer charities in Wales yesterday welcomed new findings suggesting abortion does not increase the risk of the illness.

BREAST cancer charities in Wales yesterday welcomed new findings suggesting abortion does not increase the risk of the illness.

A review of 53 studies involving 83,000 women by Cancer Research UK suggested no reliable link between breast cancer and either abortion or miscarriage.

The results support those derived from an investigation by Swedish researchers, published in January.

Breast Cancer Care Cymru said suggestions of a link with abortion had exacerbated women's distress.

The national manager for Breast Cancer Care Cymru, Alison Grey, said, "We are very pleased to hear that this new analysis of the worldwide evidence on abortion and breast cancer confirms that there is no link between induced or spontaneous abortions and risk of developing breast cancer.

"The women we talk to every day who are living with breast cancer face a phenomenal amount of distress.

"Suggestions that breast cancer could be linked to miscarriage or abortion only exacerbate the anxiety for many women, by suggesting that their life choices and behaviours could be to blame for their illness.

"We hope this study will reassure women that there is no proven link between abortion and risk of breast cancer and that age remains the strongest risk factor for breast cancer."

In 2002 there were 7,355 abortions carried out for Welsh women, a decrease of 2.5% cent over the previous year.

According to the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit breast cancer rates in Wales are highest in the rural west and north west of the country.

Breast cancer is the commonest cancer among Welsh women. The disease affects more than twice the number of women suffering from the next most common condition, lung cancer.

Between 1999 and 2001 there were about 2,060 cases each year, which is around 28% of all female cancer cases in Wales. There is a one in 11 chance that a woman will develop breast cancer in Wales by the age of 75. The risk of breast cancer is significantly higher in Anglesey, Conwy, Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire than for Wales as a whole. The risk is considerably lower in Rhondda Cynon Taff and Caerphilly.

The findings suggesting no link with abortion are at odds with the claims of a US scientist who argues that terminations are the most preventable cause of breast cancer.

Professor Joel Brind, from the City University of New York, spoke about his fears at a meeting of MPs and peers in Westminster two days after the Swedish data came out.

He said 29 out of 40 studies from around the world analysed by his research team indicated that women who terminated a pregnancy put themselves at greater risk.

Pregnancies that result in birth are known to reduce a woman's long-term risk of developing breast cancer, but scientists do not know why.

Other studies have also found a link between abortion and breast cancer.

But the authors of the findings, published in The Lancet medical journal, suggest they might have been misleading.

The Welsh chief executive of the charity Breakthrough Breast Cancer Delyth Morgan said, "We hope that this research will put a stop, once and for all, to the persistent claims that abortion is a risk factor for the disease and help give reassurance to women.

"Breakthrough believes that concerns about breast cancer risk should not influence a woman's decision to have an abortion or not."

The research

THE data analysed by Cancer Research UK was obtained from 16 countries. Of the total number of women involved, 44,000 had a history of abortion recorded before their breast cancer was diagnosed. In these cases the figures showed no increased risk of breast cancer after miscarriage or abortion.

Data on 39,000 women who were asked only after their diagnosis if they had a record of abortions gave, on average, misleading results.

The Swedish research from the Karolinska Institute published in January was based on records from 4,000 maternity centres.